dragonfly
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills: Seven Creepy Crawly #Insects

In Eastern Washington, we have been inundated with grasshoppers in July and August. How about you? While they are mostly harmless, they like to fly in a cloud as I walk through my yard. I concede I can’t capture a decent shot of one with my lens, so you’ll have to use your imagination this time.

How about a friendly, cooperative praying mantis instead?

Praying Mantis
Praying Mantis

“The praying mantis teaches us the value of stillness in a chaotic world. In its motionless stance, it becomes invisible, allowing life to unfold around it.” – Unknown

If you haven’t guessed by now, this week’s Sunday Stills theme is INSECTS. Whether in the northern hemisphere in late summer or early spring in the southern hemisphere, bugs seem to be everywhere!

My garden is an excellent source of viewing insects. Yesterday, I spied this strange bee/fly hybrid(?). Does anyone know what it is? Perhaps a leafcutter bee?

Fly or bee on sunflower

“The best thing about bugs is their lack of self consciousness, also the ability to fly doesn’t hurt.” – Dov Davidoff

Ladybug on sunflower close-up
Ladybug on sunflower
orange dragonfly

“The dragonfly charm. Embrace the magic of nature & life will be filled with good fortune.” — Viola Shipman

Brown Skipper Moth
Brown Skipper Moth

“Bee to the blossom, moth to the flame; Each to his passion; what’s in a name?” – Helen Hunt Jackson

White Salt Marsh Moth
Salt Marsh Moth

“If I could turn myself into any bug or insect; I would like to be a butterfly and fill colours, beauty and happiness in other’s lives.” – Miti Sengupta

Pink Lady Butterfly
Pink Lady Butterfly

Surprise! I spied this grasshopper on the windowsill on Saturday evening, and he stood still enough for me to capture him!

grasshopper
Grasshopper Last on the card

Submitting for Brian’s Last on the Card

Whether you have a love-hate relationship with insects, you may come to appreciate insects more after reading this: 21 Cool Bug Facts.

gold paint swatch

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post. Please use your own original images, whether new or from your archives.

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently than mine.
  • Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
  • I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.

Sharing for Becky B’s 7 Squares, Cee’s FOTD, and Johnbo’s Cellpic Sunday

Dotted Blue Butterfly
Oh, Hello!

“Bugs are not going to inherit the earth. They own it now. So we might as well make peace with the landlord.” – Thomas Eisner

I can’t wait to see how you interpret this week’s theme! Creativity is encouraged, so please share your own photographs (old or new), poems, original short stories, and music inspired by the theme.

I’m taking a short break the week of September 8 to entertain out-of-town guests. Please join me in two weeks when we explore peach and orange colors for the September Monthly Color Challenge.

You can view September’s themes on my Sunday Stills Photo Challenge page.

graphic

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115 comments

  2. OK truth be told I am not a fan of bugs of just about any kind Terri. Now and then I love capturing colorful butterflies or dragonflies, or unique bugs on beautiful flowers but for the most part when it comes to bugs, less is more! So kudos for your captures and my best wishes for a bug-free autumn!!

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  3. What a fun, fabulous post, Terri. Your photographs made me fall in love with bugs. I liked the praying mantis, dragon fly, and salt marsh moth. They are pretty. But the best, for me, was the picture of the ladybird. The last quote was a good one 😀.

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  8. Amazing close-ups of our friends in the insect world, Terri.

    To answer your question, no, we’ve not been inundated with grasshoppers this summer. I used to see them all the time during the summer months, but can’t recall the last time I saw any. I’ve also seen a lack of wasps this summer, which is no bad thing given I do a crazy ‘dad dance’ whenever one comes near me. I’m not friends with wasps since getting stung by one when I was at school.

    What we do have a lot of is spiders, both inside and outside the house. I’ve even come across a few of their nests, but I leave them well along. However, I will get rid of abandoned webs inside the house.

    Enjoy your blogging break.

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    • Thanks, Hugh! With all the flowers in our garden, insects like bumble bees and a few strange ones like to hang out there making it easy to snap a few pics. Spiders are fine outside although I’ve spied a few small wolf spiders on our ceilings occasionally–they can stay…they eat flies!
      It will be nice to have a week off. My longtime friend will be visiting from Sacramento and she will keep me busy!

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  9. What a great theme and the photos are amazing. In our area, just south of Vancouver, we’ve seen the occasional dragonfly, plus butterflies, ladybugs, and lots of spiders these days. Happily, few mosquitoes this summer!

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  14. Terri,

    Your Dragonfly is a “10”, and the Salt Marsh Moth is just as good. We’re dealing with Cicadas now, and I love hearing them buzz when walking after dark…it’s a soothing sound to me. I don’t have anything creepy to share, but I thought I would submit a colorful butterfly. Enjoy your Labor Day, and have a great week. Joe

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  25. Terri – I have only seen the cloud of grasshoppers once at one of the Metroparks- it was interesting to see and they were landing on me sometimes as well. It lasted a few minutes, then they were gone. I like your dragonfly photo. I have only taken one dragonfly photo and it was a Blue Skimmer which landed at my feet. I was at the Botanical Gardens today and saw no bees, butterflies or hummingbirds. I’ve seen very few butterflies and one moth, new to me, an Eight-Spotted Forester Moth.

    That article was interesting about bugs and insects and I admit that I have used the terms interchangeably. I did know a butterfly was an insect though … how could something so beautiful be a bug? I remember hearing about someone who had a Lady Bug infestation in her home … it was Lady Bugs and not the “knock-offs” … the Asian Lady Beetles. It was so bad they were behind all her light switches! I remember as a kid making a wish if a Lady Bug landed on you.

    Enjoy your out-of-town company. I am late getting here today as a friend is in town visiting family for the holiday and we had a phone call for a couple of hours after I got home.

    I only updated my post with your link a short time ago.

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    • Thanks, Linda! I think any bug or insect can be a nuisance in huge numbers. The various insects are still flitting about our property. We have a few more days of hot/warm weather, I’m sure the insects will be around for a bit. A bunch of my flowers are blooming now which should keep attracting them.

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      • Yes, we had Carpenter ants in our house about 25 years ago and had to cut down multiple trees, get rid of the bark in the garden and they persisted until they found the nest. We had Orkin come and spray inside the house, upstairs/downstairs and they drilled holes in the baseboards every 18 inches and puffed Diazinon into the holes. We had a smaller pest control company come in after Orkin wasn’t getting the job done and they located the nest right away – no more Carpenter ants! I can tolerate bugs easier outside than inside, especially spiders and centipedes.

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  29. A wonderful idea for the SevenforSeptember with great photos. A misleading title though 😂
    I hope that the grasshoppers don’t eat more than their fair share.
    Thanks for joining in Last on the Card Terri 😀

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  31. I’ve got crickets by the thousands with handfuls per day coming in the house. Grasshoppers by the thousands as well. Ah life in the country. Your prompt was a homerun for my activity yesterday…UGH

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  37. Great captures of the insects in your garden, Terri! The dragonfly is a beautiful shot. I love the pink lady butterfly also. We have so many insects in our garden than I can identify. Some laid eggs on my broccoli plants. I removed two caterpillars and covered the plants with a fine net. Days later, I saw a moth and two cabbage butterflies emerging. I lifted the net and let them go.

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    • Thank you, Miriam! I try to rescue the hapless insects that fall into the water bowl, or trapped by something. Most of them are pretty useful to the garden. I did find some aphids on the zucchini plant earlier this summer–I think they killed the plant. In the garbage they all went 😦

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  43. Happy September, Terri! Is the bee a burrowing kind? We’ve had a few of those around trying to tunnel between a crack in our front walkway. These were great shots! We’ve not had any grasshoppers. But, our birds are all gone! Have a great week. 🌠

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